Management

LFS is owned and managed by three senior financial system experts:

Dan Balke has been with LFS since its foundation in 1997. Mr. Balke is Managing Director and co-owner of LFS. He has extensive professional experience in senior management positions in financial sector institution building projects in the fields of MSME finance, housing finance and municipal finance. Mr. Balke holds an MBA in Finance from Manchester Business School and an M.Sc. in Economics. Mr. Balke speaks German, English, Russian, Spanish and Serbo-Croat.

Thomas Engelhardt has been with LFS since its foundation in 1997. Mr. Engelhardt is Managing Director and co-owner of LFS, Director on the Supervisory Board of AccessBank in Azerbaijan, and Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of AccessBank Liberia and AccessBank Tajikistan. He is currently seconded to AccessHolding, where he serves as the Chairman of the Management Board. Mr. Engelhardt has extensive professional experience in senior management positions in MSME finance projects. He holds an M.Sc. in Economics, and speaks German, English, Russian and Serbo-Croat.

Dr. Bernd Zattler founded LFS in 1997, and has since then been Managing Director and majority owner of the firm. He is Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of AccèsBanque in Madagascar, AB Microfinance Bank Nigeria, AccessBank Tanzania as well as AB Microfinance Bank Zambia and Director on the Supervisory Board of AccessHolding. Before the foundation of LFS, Dr. Zattler worked for a multinational firm and in institutions engaged in development finance. Dr. Zattler holds a Ph.D. in Economics, and speaks German, English, French and Spanish.